It was a baker’s dozen…Alexis,Chandu, Fauzia, Gopal,Hrishikesh, Neha,Priyanka, Neha, Sushil,Tharangini, Vaibhav, Yash, and I…who went to Hulimangala this morning (070511). The sun came up as we stopped near the magnificient stand of trees….

I met in January 2005; he had just quit his I T job and was a volunteer naturalist with JLR in K.Gudi then. I did not know, then, that we were seeing a young man at the beginning of a long and momentous journey.

Our pavements (or footpaths or sidewalks) are very interesting places. No bland stretch of tiles or cement for us; we have a rich variety of life teeming on our footpaths (indeed, I often think they are called footpaths because the local Government makes them a foot higher than the road…so they are not meant for the easy use of pedestrians, but for people to earn their livelihoods on space-without-rent!)